Letter on Civil Rights, Fisk University, 1

Letter dated July 26, 1963 from Lawrence N. Jones, Fisk University's Dean of Chapel, to United States senator Albert Gore. The letter is written on Jones's professional letterhead. In the letter, Jones praises Gore for his record in the Senate and urges Gore to support proposed Civil Rights legislation, which he calls "a forward step in granting to the Negro citizens of this country the civil rights which for so long have been denied them." Jones cites Gore's work with foreign policy and reminds him "of the international impact of our racial dilemma." Jones ends by warning that the peaceful resolution of race problems depend on men like Gore supporting the legislation. The Civil Rights legislation mentioned in this letter was House Resolution-7152 and Senate-1731, proposed by President John F. Kennedy in June 1963, following demonstrations in Birmingham, Alabama, and Alabama governor George Wallace standing in the door of the University of Alabama in an attempt to prevent African American students from integrating the school. After President Kennedy's assassination n November 1963, President Lyndon B. Johnson encouraged Congress to pass the legislation. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was signed into law by President Johnson on July 2, 1964.

The University of Tennessee Libraries (Knoxville, Tennessee) is the digital publisher.

The Civil Rights Digital Library received support from a National Leadership Grant for Libraries awarded to the University of Georgia by the Institute of Museum and Library Services for the aggregation and enhancement of partner metadata.